The present invention broadly relates to thread-treating nozzles and, more specifically, pertains to a new and improved construction of an openable and closable thread-treating nozzle.
Generally speaking, the thread-treating nozzle of the present invention relates to developments and improvements in the system disclosed in the published European Patent Application No. 110,359, published June 13, 1984, corresponding to the above cross-referenced U.S. application Ser. No. 81,051, filed Oct. 2, 1979, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated in the present specification by reference.
The present invention also relates to developments and improvements in the thread-treating nozzle described and claimed in the published European Patent Application No. 85/112,265.5, published on June 18, 1986 under the Publication No. 184,625, and in the above cross-referenced cognate and present parent U.S. patent application Ser. No. 06/677,591 filed Dec. 3, 1984, in the name of applicant and entitled "THREAD-TREATING NOZZLE". These two Patent Applications will be referred to hereinafter as the "prior applications".
In its more particular aspects, the present invention relates to an openable and closable thread-treating nozzle, that is, a nozzle comprising a plurality of nozzle parts which define between them a thread-treating passage and which are movable relative to each other for opening and closing the thread-treating passage to enable insertion of a thread. The term "nozzle" when used hereinafter refers to an openable and closable nozzle as defined above. Such a nozzle preferably comprises only two nozzle parts movable relative to each other.
In the earlier of the prior applications, namely European Published Patent Application No. 110,359, published June 13, 1984, and the cognate U.S. application Ser. No. 81,051, filed Oct. 2, 1979, at least one nozzle part of the nozzle was provided with a flexible mounting to permit adjustment of the nozzle part for making face-to-face sealing contact with another nozzle part or other parts of the nozzle. It has now been realized that at least some of the required flexibility can advantageously be incorporated in the nozzle part itself.
The flexible nozzle part is, however, still advantageously associated with a flexible mounting. Such a mounting preferably comprises balancing means for distributing nozzle closing forces over the nozzle part.
The subsequent two "prior applications" describe an arrangement which, for convenience, will be referred to briefly as an "elastic-sided" thread-treating nozzle. The nozzle comprises a plurality of nozzle parts which define a thread-treating passage between them. The nozzle parts are movable relative to each other to enable opening of the nozzle for thread insertion, and subsequent closing of the nozzle with the thread in the thread-treating passage. In accordance with these two "prior applications", at least one nozzle part is made elastic under closing forces applied in use, so as to ensure that sealing contact between the nozzle parts is made around the thread-treating passage.
An analogous concept is broadly disclosed in British Patent No. 1,310,227 (corresponding to German Patent Publication No. 2,049,740), in particular in claim 2 thereof. It is therein proposed that the elastic nozzle part of the nozzle be made of polyurethane rubber. It is furthermore proposed that closure forces be applied to the nozzle by way of a lever acting adjacent a hinge joining the two nozzle parts. The closure forces are therefore created by application of a turning moment or torque tending to swing the elastic nozzle part around the hinge pin. For reasons which will be explained in further detail in the course of the description of the drawings, such an arrangement cannot perform suitably over a wide range of operating circumstances, involving in particular significant closing forces (high operating pressures in the nozzle passage) or high temperatures or combinations of both.